4 Stages of Building High-Performing Team

The overall objective of the group during the performing stage is to complete their mission and fulfill their purpose though goal achievement. The first stage of group development is known as the forming stage. The forming stage represents a time where the group is just starting to come together and is characterized with anxiety and uncertainty.

The act of recognizing the completion of a goal and consciously moving on can be challenging for some. Because the marketing team successfully completed their objective, they enter into the adjourning stage of group development. One of the leaders proposes that the group goes out to dinner to celebrate their success, in addition to offering a time of group reflection before they are permanently disbanded. Many group members are disappointed that the group must dissolve, but they recognize and commend other group members for the skills both personally developed and those developed as a team. In our example, the marketing team reached an agreement and restructured the roles of its members during the norming phase of group development. Team members remain happy and loyal towards to group’s function, and they are quickly approaching the completion of the group’s goal.

Stage 1: Forming stage

Members start to feel part of a team and can take pleasure from the increased group cohesion. The forming → storming → norming → performing model of group development was first proposed by psychological researcher Bruce Tuckman in 1965. Eric Douglas is the senior partner and founder of Leading Resources Inc., a consulting firm that focuses on developing high-performing organizations. For more than 20 years, Eric has successfully helped a wide array of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations achieve breakthroughs in performance. His new book The Leadership Equation helps leaders achieve strategic clarity, manage change effectively, and build a leadership culture. All good things must come to an end; and this is also true of groups.

• The storming stage is where conflict and competition are at its greatest.
• The first stage of group development is known as the forming stage.
• As team members begin collaborating, conflicts may arise, whether that’s from clashing personalities or opinions on how a project should progress.
• Stage of team development, consensus and cooperation have been well-established, and the team resembles a mature, organized, and well-functioning machine.
• They begin sharing their ideas and giving feedback to one another, increasing the group’s overall creativity.

Elevator Pitch – This exercise answers the “What exactly are we doing, and why? Creating an elevator pitch together sets your team up with a consistent and simple explanation of your work and the unique value it delivers. Work Life is Atlassian’s flagship publication dedicated to unleashing the potential of every team through real-life advice, inspiring stories, and thoughtful perspectives from leaders around the world. This is to say that, even when things aren’t going smoothly, each person should assume that their “challenger” is coming from a good place and is trying to act in the best interest of the team. Each team member should also try to analyze their reason for inciting potential conflict from the other person’s point of view. She also asks each member to write a brief evaluation of the team experience.

Navigating the “norming” stage

Your participation should be much more focused on how the team is tackling problems rather than solving the problems for them. You will still raise issues, ask questions, and challenge approaches, but more to validate the team’s conclusion than to drive it. Leadership belongs to everyone on the team, and the team owns its results. Seek first to understand and encourage everyone on the team to take the same approach. Act as a sounding board and allow any hidden agendas to surface. Provide information and suggest alternative solutions to roadblocks.

Adjourning is used to wrap up the activities of the group and provide team members with a sense of closure or fulfillment. The closure phase also allows time for reflection between individuals or the group as a whole, enabling them to recognize the valuable experiences which transpired or the skills which have been built upon. While these four stages—forming, storming, norming, and performing—are distinct and generally sequential, they often blend into one another and even overlap. For example, if a new member joins the team there may be a second brief period of formation while that person is integrated. A team may also need to return to an earlier stage if its performance declines.

Norming Stage of Group Development

As a new project phase starts new teams are formed and the members will go through the stages. New team members joining established teams will go through a very personal version of the stages as they settle in. The five stages of group development, according to Bruce Tuckman’s model, are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. This stage begins to occur as the process of organizing tasks and processes surface interpersonal conflicts. Tuckman’s original work simply described the way he had observed groups evolve, whether they were conscious of it or not.

They start tolerating the whims and fancies of the other team members. The danger here is that members may be so focused on preventing conflict that they are reluctant to share controversial ideas. In this stage, team members are creating new ways of doing and being together. As the group develops cohesion, leadership changes from ‘one’ teammate in charge to shared leadership.

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The norming stage is more harmonious since teams understand why it’s important to ask for help, and how to come to you with questions when they need guidance. This is where it’s important to level with individual contributors and truly get to know what’s going on. This is a great time to reflect on what makes a high-performing https://globalcloudteam.com/ team able to accomplish tasks and move through obstacles. Your team needs to communicate clearly and, rely on one another rather than turn on each other. This is a crucial point in team development where leaders can pinpoint bottlenecks, areas of improvement and couple them with team strengths to build forward momentum.